A judge has dismissed a legal challenge brought by campaigners that had been preventing changes being made to three major road junctions in Derby. Upgrades to the Kingsway, Little Eaton and Markeaton roundabouts on the A38 have been in the works since 2014.
Campaign group Stop the A38 Expansion argued that the scheme had been approved without an up-to-date economic assessment, but a High Court judge rejected their arguments, says the BBC.
National Highways said the works could now begin, subject to the new Labour government’s review of spending on capital projects. Public consultations about improving the A38 in Derby began 23 years ago but the plans have been consistently paused and redesigned.
When the latest version of the plans was put forward in 2020, it was budgeted at £250m and was said to be designed to cut congestion where local traffic meets vehicles travelling between Birmingham and the M1. Permission to legally challenge the government-backed scheme for a second time was granted last year.
In his decision, Judge Tim Mould said he was “unable to accept” the campaigners’ argument that DfT had committed an error, by not updating its economic assessment, adding that the information available to the then-secretary of state “was proportionate to what he required for the purposes of reaching his decision”.
(Pic – National Highways)
